There is one specific play that will always result in gigantic smiles and a round of applause from the coaching staff. It’s quite possibly the most difficult call for the referee crew as the defender slides in front of the driving offensive player to draw a charge. A second of silence usually follows the collision before the man in stripes places one hand behind his head and the other arm fully extended, pointing in the opposite direction.

Aside from a blocked shot, the offensive charge is a momentum changing play, which proves the amount of physical pain a player is willing to endure.

The No. 30 overall pick in the 2010 Draft understands the importance of this small but important aspect to the NBA game. Lazar Hayward posted some nice offensive games in four outings during the Wolves summer league action. However, his attention to detail on the defensive side of the floor quickly caught the eye of NBA fans escaping the sweltering Vegas heat inside the Thomas & Mack Center and Cox Pavilion. On multiple possessions, Hayward needed assistance from his teammates to peel him off the hardwood after drawing a charge.

Timberwolves second-round pick Nemanja Bjelica on Monday signed a five-year contract with a buyout option to leave for the NBA after two years with Spanish club Caja Laboral, the team for which newly signed Spurs prospect Tiago Splitter played.

That buyout option would place Bjelica, a point guard in a 6-foot-10 power forward’s body, with the Wolves in 2012, which also could be the year Ricky Rubio joins them if the 2011-12 NBA season is lost, or mostly lost, to labor strife.

For all the rambling about teams like the Clippers being cursed, the Hornets being cheap, or the Thunder having Jay Bilas-like upside, there should probably be a new discussion. The Timberwolves are run by a buffoon.

Kahn is an educated man, graduating from UCLA with a degree in English, meaning he might engage you with an intelligent take on Whitman’s “Leaves of Grass,” could gush about the honor in which Young Werther shot himself or edit the heck out of a thesis. At the same time, though, it hardly means he is qualified to run a Minneapolis Starbucks, more or less a franchise in a billion dollar industry.

In fewer than 18 months Kahn has morphed into an Isiah Thomas-like tornado in Minnesota, without, of course, the on-the-court status of NBA legend. He must be as popular in Minneapolis as Jimmy Jam and Prince, only the exact opposite.

– Sigh. It gets so tiring hearing this nonsense over and over and over…